Manila Galleon Research Articles

Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization by Kale Bantigue Fajardo (review)

Reviewed by: Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization by Kale Bantigue Fajardo Cynthia Wu (bio) Filipino Crosscurrents: Oceanographies of Seafaring, Masculinities, and Globalization by Kale Bantigue Fajardo. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2011. Xiii + 251 pp. $25.00 paper. ISBN 978-0816667574. Kale Fajardo’s Filipino Crosscurrents is a study of contemporary patterns of transnational movement through the figure of the Filipino maritime transportation worker. Responding to Saskia Sassen’s observation that most scholarship on globalization focuses on capital to the detriment of labor, Fajardo directs our attention to working-class seamen, of whom 20 percent worldwide are Filipino, in order to ground insightful claims about the complex interplay of gender, work, and nation at the turn of the twenty-first century. Filipino Crosscurrents is an ambitious work of cultural-studies-based ethnography conducted in the Philippines, in the United States, and on a container ship on the open seas—merging method with methodology in its transnational commitments. As much of the scholarship on decolonization has shown, normative masculinities are often upheld as a means of asserting and claiming a viable agency for the nation as it struggles to shed the effects of imperialism. The Philippines, having endured multiple histories of colonialism and occupation, is a sovereign nation today, but this freedom is a measured one. The Philippines’ debt to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank (manufactured by the workings of neocolonial neoliberalisms) continues to constrain the nation’s economy and track its citizen-laborers into transnational industries that offer little security. These overseas workers send remittances back to family residing in the Philippines, which are eventually used to pay down the national debt. This flexible labor is largely a feminized one, as emblemized in the domestic workers who tend to be female and/or relegated to tasks associated with women. To distance itself from this feminization, the Philippine state advanced the figure of the Filipino seaman, which it conceived as normatively masculine, in order to signal its imminent entrance into a robust capitalist modernity. However, this exercise in image management did not elicit its intended results. As Fajardo insightfully shows, the damaging effects of 1990s-era neoliberal policies, Filipino seamen’s own understanding of their gender performances, and the transhistorical links between past and present globalisms all troubled the gendered capitalist hopes expressed by conservative factions in the Philippines. Chapter 1 focuses on the state and corporate sponsored “Race of the Century” regatta in 1998 that commemorated the Acapulco-Manila galleon trade during the time of Spanish Empire. The event’s celebration of Filipino seafaring attempted to generate visibility for the Philippines’ economic aspirations. However, these neoliberal policies ultimately displaced poor and working-class citizens. Tellingly, the yachts for the regatta were also raced by upper-class global elites. Chapter 2 juxtaposes a promotional video for an employment agency specializing in maritime labor with the words of Filipino [End Page 227] seamen themselves. While the video reifies normative concepts of gendered familial and patriotic responsibility that uphold colonial and neocolonial power, the seamen who refuse these interpellations—by jumping ship, for example—intervene by forging alternative and oppositional masculinities. Chapters 3 and 4 delve more intimately into the affects and emotions surrounding hard labor at sea and Filipino seamen’s experience of their social location in the times and spaces of late capital. Among Fajardo’s informants, the abilities to withstand lengthy periods of homesickness and to endure the differential conditions of labor onboard the ship are crucial to how seafaring masculinities are constructed and understood. At the same time, the fleeting moments of pleasure scheduled in these workers’ short periods of leisure mitigate these hardships. Fajardo’s own positionality as a “self-identified Filipino American queer, transgender, tomboy, and immigrant researcher” (161) forms the basis of an extended self-referential meditation into the ethnographer’s work. Showing that U.S.-descended notions of sex and gender are inadequate for conceptualizing the nonbinary gender systems in the Philippines, Fajardo stakes a compelling claim for a decolonialist (trans)gender politics that can intervene in the normative masculinities imposed onto Filipino seamen by capitalist cultures. One question a well-intentioned skeptic might ask was raised and discussed by...

Asian slaves in colonial Mexico: from chinos to Indians

During the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, countless slaves from culturally diverse communities in the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia journeyed to Mexico on the ships of the Manila Galleon. Upon arrival in Mexico, they were grouped together and categorized as chinos. Their experience illustrates the interconnectedness of Spain's colonies and the reach of the crown, which brought people together from Africa, the Americas, Asia and Europe in a historically unprecedented way. In time, chinos in Mexico came to be treated under the law as Indians, becoming indigenous vassals of the Spanish crown after 1672. The implications of this legal change were enormous: as Indians, rather than chinos, they could no longer be held as slaves. Tatiana Seijas tracks chinos' complex journey from the slave market in Manila to the streets of Mexico City, and from bondage to liberty. In doing so, she challenges commonly held assumptions about the uniformity of the slave experience in the Americas.

Global invasion history of the tropical fire ant: a stowaway on the first global trade routes.

Biological invasions are largely thought to be contemporary, having recently increased sharply in the wake of globalization. However, human commerce had already become global by the mid-16th century when the Spanish connected the New World with Europe and Asia via their Manila galleon and West Indies trade routes. We use genetic data to trace the global invasion of one of the world's most widespread and invasive pest ants, the tropical fire ant, Solenopsis geminata. Our results reveal a pattern of introduction of Old World populations that is highly consistent with historical trading routes suggesting that Spanish trade introduced the tropical fire ant to Asia in the 16th century. We identify southwestern Mexico as the most likely source for the invasive populations, which is consistent with the use of Acapulco as the major Spanish port on the Pacific Ocean. From there, the Spanish galleons brought silver to Manila, which served as a hub for trade with China. The genetic data document a corresponding spread of S.geminata from Mexico via Manila to Taiwan and from there, throughout the Old World. Our descriptions of the worldwide spread of S.geminata represent a rare documented case of a biological invasion of a highly invasive and globally distributed pest species due to the earliest stages of global commerce.

Transport costs and prices of Chinese silk in the Spanish Empire. The case of New Spain, c. 1571-1650.

In New Spain and the rest of the Spanish Empire, only a privileged elite could access Chinesesilk, which began to be traded in the Empire after the opening of the Manila Galleon routein 1571. The high price of Chinese silk partly explained such elitist consumption of the Asiantextile. Using sources only recently made available to the public, this paper analyses the degreeof price dispersion of Chinese silk across the Spanish Empire and, taking the Manila Galleonroute as a reference, some of the main elements that determined the high transport cost andprice of Chinese silk in the Empire before the 18th century, which is to say before long-distancetransport costs fell and the first signs of market convergence manifested in the world.

GLOBALISATION, MARKET FORMATION AND COMMODITISATION IN THE SPANISH EMPIRE. CONSUMER DEMAND FOR ASIAN GOODS IN MEXICO CITY AND SEVILLE, C. 1571-1630

ABSTRACTThis article aims to shed light on the process and mechanisms through which Asian manufactured goods (Chinese silk and porcelain, among others) were commoditised and how markets for such goods were formed in the Spanish Empire. After the opening of the Manila Galleon route in 1571 supply of and demand for Asian goods grew in the Spanish Empire, but retail means of supply of such goods were scantly developed. The article offers an econometric model which, when applied to data on a sample of probate inventories of elites of Mexico City and Seville, determines the influence of belonging to private, familial global networks in consumer demand expansion for Asian manufactures throughout the Spanish Empire.

Opium after the Manila Galleon: The Spanish involvement in the opium economy in East Asia (1815-1830)

This paper identifies the Spaniards’ involvement in the opium trade in China at the beginning of the 19th century. Several sources have been consulted, mainly the Jardine Matheson Archive at the University of Cambridge and the Archivo General de Indias in Seville. These activities took place from the end of the Manila Galleon until 1830, and were undertaken by some employees of the Spanish Royal Philippine Company in Calcutta and Canton in their private businesses. These houses collaborated closely with the British firms during the opium boom, and Manila private financial support was provided. Thus, Spaniards undoubtedly made a fundamental contribution during a key stage of development of the opium economy and evolution of modern Chinese history, being a precedent of what became the prestigious British company Jardine, Matheson & Co.

La Transcripción Del Manuscrito De Fray Ignacio Muñoz Sobre El Proyecto De Manutención Y Extensión De La Fe Católica En Las Islas Marianas, Y Del Descubrimiento Y La Conquista De Las Islas Salomón, Siglo XVII

The present text is the introduction of author and transcription of the manuscript which Fray Ignacio Muñoz prepared for Charles II and the Council of the West Indies in the response to the project sent to this authorities by don Andrés de Medina Dávila, who planned a conquest of the Solomon Islands taking advantage of vessels of the Nao de China circulating between the Philippines and New Spain, as well as the strengthening of the Catholic faith in the Mariana Islands.

The China-Latin America Axis: Following the Path of the Manila Galleon

This article discusses the China-Latin America Axis. It seems that the re-emergence of China on the world stage is not only creating a multi-polar world, but also brings back ancient trade routes like the Manila Galleon or the Silk Road. The new relative position of China in the world has led to a big temptation to dance with the dragon, but where can the dragon take you? The relationship with China for many Latin American states will be transformative, a source of “concern” for the US as well as for some of the Latin American states who are themselves beneficiaries.

Letter from the Editors: Special Issue on China’s Outgoing Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI)

This editorial article introduces the special issue of AIB Insights focused on China’s Outgoing Foreign Direct Investment (OFDI). The issue includes “China’s Economic Impact on Oceania” by Peter Enderwick; “The China-Latin America Axis: Following the Path of the Manila Galleon” by Gaston Fornes and Alan Butt Philip; and “Chinese Organizations in Sub-Saharan Africa: New Dynamics, New Synergies” by Terence Jackson, Lynette Louw, Shuming Zhao, Roshan Boojihawon, and Tony Fang.

Archaeological Identification of Stone Fish-weirs Mentioned to Freycinet in 1819 on the Island of Guam

ABSTRACTIn 1819, when the French corvette L'Uranie anchored off Apra Harbor in the Micronesian Island of Guam, its captain Louis Claude de Freycinet was told of the former use there of stone fish-weirs. This reference has long puzzled archaeologists and historians who assumed Freycinet was misinformed or such features were no longer in existence, given the frequent typhoons that affect the region. Recent archaeological surveys of Apra Harbor tidal flats, however, have identified low-walled coral enclosures at the mouth of two freshwater estuaries. At first. these were hypothesised to have been built to foster shellfish production under the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II. However, controlled excavation of small sites adjacent to one of these complexes yielded late Latte Period pottery and wood charcoal radiocarbon dated to AD 1645–1725. This historic timeframe is within the plausible memory of the oldest generation of Freycinet's informants. These archaeological findings, combined with interviews, research of historical accounts and ethnographic comparisons of fishing practices in Micronesia and further afield suggest that Chamorro fishermen may have used the weirs to feed local populations and visiting sailors during the seasonal arrival of the Manila galleons for a long period after Ferdinand Magellan's visit in 1521. This conclusion has practical and contemporary implications for Chamorro today.

Survivors of a Shipwreck: Ivories from a Manila Galleon of 1601

This article explores a find of ivories excavated in the first decade of the current century from a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Mariana Islands, almost 1500 miles from the Philippines, along the route the Manila galleons took on their way to Mexico. In 1601 one of those galleons, the Santa Margarita, sank, along with its rich cargo of goods from the Philippines. The cargo included ivory sculptures, over 300 of which have now been excavated. They consist of fragments of sculptures, and occasionally virtually complete small-scale works, mostly representing Christian subjects, carved by Chinese and Filipino sculptors in the Philippines. This is the first time a specific group of such ivories known to have come from a dated shipwreck has been examined and published. The date of the shipwreck suggests that we should revise the dates of similar pieces, formerly thought to have been carved later on in the seventeenth century, to an earlier date.Este artículo explora el descubrimiento en la primera década de este siglo de unos marfiles excavados en un pecio hundido en el océano Pacífico, cerca de la costa de las islas Marianas, a casi 2500 kilómetros de las Islas Filipinas, en la ruta que los galeones procedentes de Manila seguían hacia México. En 1601 uno de estos galeones, el Santa Margarita, se hundió junto con el rico cargamento que transportaba procedente de Filipinas. El cargamento incluía esculturas de marfil, trescientas de las cuales ya han sido extraídas del pecio hundido. Las piezas rescatadas son en su mayoría fragmentos de esculturas y ocasionalmente obras de pequeño tamaño prácticamente completas. En su mayoría representan temas cristianos, tallados en Filipinas por escultores chinos y filipinos. Esta es la primera vez que se conoce un grupo de este tipo específico de marfiles procedentes de un naufragio fechado, examinado y publicado. La fecha del naufragio sugiere que se debería revisar la datación aproximada de este tipo de piezas a una fecha más temprana, ya que siempre se ha pensado que fueron talladas más adelante en el siglo XVII.

Gemelli and His Travel to the Philippines

Giro del Mondo’s Volume V, by G. Francesco Gemelli Careri (1700), dedicates two books to describe several events which took place in the Philippines in 1696 as observed by the traveler. Our main goal will be to write a historical analysis of his account, underlining the importance of the Manila Galleon in the political, economic, and social life of the Philippines at the end of 17th century.

Oriental Passion to Honor the Dead

To promote the expiation of sins committed on earth, pious donations were common; the chaplaincy was the more common religious foundation, which was intended to secure in perpetuity a number of votes for the eternal repose of the soul of the patron or patrons. To ensure its continued maintenance, material goods were provided; these goods, together with the owner, are generally exhibited in their funerary chapels. Because of the Manila Galleon, which led to the exchange of Asian goods between East and West, it is thus very common to find works from Asia, China, Japan, and the Philippines in the decor of these funerary chapels.

Corruption, Greed, and the Public Good in the Mariana Islands, 1700-1720

This article discusses the disintegrating factors generated by Spanish colonial rule in the Marianas in the early eighteenth century—corruption by colonial officials, ineffective defense against other European powers, precipitous decline in the native population—in a context in which the archipelago’s future as a Spanish outpost was debated in religious and political circles in Manila and Madrid. The article focuses on the governorship of Juan Antonio Pimentel, whose immorality as well as oppression of the Chamorros were denounced by the Jesuits. The punishment for Pimentel’s corruption and greed was meant to reassert Spain’s authority and appreciation for the Marianas as a strategic possession. Keywords: Marianas • Jesuits • Chamorros • corruption • galleon trade

<i>Sailscapes</i>. La construcción del paisaje del Océano Pacífico en el <i>Giro del Mondo</i> de Gemelli Carreri

This article analyses the processes of representation and perception of the Pacific Ocean landscape as derived from the narrative of the voyage by Gemelli Carreri (1698) on board of the Manila Galleon. The article also introduces the concept «Sailscape» as the practical and symbolic construction of the oceanic environment and as part of the navigation and geographical imagination. The theoretical analysis of the Pacific «sailscape» has been illustrated by means of Gemelli’s text. In addition to that, the navigator’s scope and the ship’s trip have been regarded as spatial agents in the construction of the landscape.

The Oxford handbook of maritime archaeology

The Oxford Handbook of Maritime Archaeology Edited by A. Catsambis, B. Ford and D. Hamilton Oxford University Press, New York 2011. ISBN: 978-0-19-537517-6. Pp. 1203. UKP95. This part technical handbook, part encyclopaedia aims to capture the breadth of current research in maritime archaeology. It is aimed squarely at students and practitioners, with chapters prepared by selected experts in their fields. As such it is readable to anyone with an interest in the subject of maritime archaeology. Many of the chapters are presented as case studies that demonstrate the application of methodology, techniques and theory to real sites. As George Bass states in his introduction, 'maritime archaeology is still defining itself' (p. 4), with distinct branches of maritime archaeology (the archaeology of people of maritime cultures), nautical archaeology (the archaeology of ships and watercraft), coastal archaeology (the archaeology of people who lived in coastal zones whether the sites are now above water, underwater, or partly submerged), underwater archaeology (the study of any submerged sites e.g. Mexican cenotes, Neolithic sites in European lakes, riverine and lacustrine sites) and more recently the development of aeronautical archaeology (aircraft being 'ships of the air'). The handbook is an amalgam of all of the above, though naturally with a strong focus on the archaeology of shipwrecks. The handbook is divided into seven main sections of I) Introduction, II) The Process, III) Ships and Shipwrecks, IV) Maritime Culture and Life Ashore, V) Beyond the Site, VI) Conclusion and VII) Glossary and Appendix. Part II 'The Process' discusses the definition of ships as 'architecture, function and human space' (Pomey), the formation and interpretation of wreck sites (Martin), interpretation of marine magnetic and acoustic survey data (Quinn, Gearhart), excavation planning and logistics (Underwood), post-excavation reconstruction of ships (Ravn, Bischoff, Englert, Nielsen, Batcharov, Pevny) including virtual reconstruction (Sanders, Monroy, Castro, Furuta) and the role of conservation in maritime archaeology (Hamilton, Wayne Smith). Chapters in Part III 'Ships and Shipwrecks' are generally regional in scope--both broad and specific--providing coverage of the current status of research in the majority of the Earth's oceans. Contributions include shipping and shipwrecks of the ancient Mediterranean (Polzer, Carlson, Rieth) and Red Sea (Blue), Medieval period shipping (Rose), Post-medieval ships and seafaring in the west (Hocker), South Africa (Boshoff), India (Gaur and Vora), East Asian shipbuilding (Sasaki), Australia (Staniforth), Historic period shipping in the Pacific (Van Tilburg), Steamships (Crisman), Caribbean (Leshikar-Denton), Northern Gulf of Mexico (Borgens), South America (Elkin) and the underwater archaeology of World War I and II (Neyland). Van Tilburg offers the major contribution to the maritime archaeology of Oceania in his chapter 'Historic Period Ships of the Pacific Ocean', which focuses mainly on the period of the Spanish Manila galleons to the 20th century. Van Tilburg discusses the significance of Pacific migration and trade using double-hulled voyaging canoes up to and including the historic period, while being cognisant of the 'invisibility' of traditional watercraft to magnetometers and the difficult logistics of working in such vast expanses of ocean (p. 589). Part IV 'Maritime Culture and Life Ashore' is recommended to anyone working with coastal archaeology and communities as it exhibits the need for integration of the concept of the 'maritime cultural landscape' with the mainstream archaeological community (p. 751). Contributions on 'The Maritime Cultural Landscape' (Westerdahl), 'Coastal Archaeology' (Ford), 'Submerged Prehistory in the North Sea' (Firth), 'Ancient Harbours in the Mediterranean' (Oleson and Hohlfelder), 'Shipyard Archaeology' (Moser), 'Ship Abandonment' (Richards) and 'Maritime Communities and Traditions' (Ransley) encompass cultural landscapes, archaeology, ethnography, prehistoric submerged landscapes, linguistics, economics and spiritual sites. …

Más allá del Pacífico. Piezas de Oriente en los templos de Cundinamarca, Boyacá y Santander (Colombia)

The article presents the research on oriental elements of church furnishing, which constitute the heritage of missionary and evangelization churches (iglesiasdoctrineras) in New Granada of the early 17th century. Thanks to extensive archival sources stored in Archivo General de la Nación de Colombia (Colombia, Bogota) as well as Archivo General de Indias (Spain, Seville) it is possible to demonstrate the existence of numerous objects of oriental origins. Oriental objects came to the area of Tierra Firmevia a sea route connecting Seville with territories belonging to the Spanish crown in America (Carrera de Indias), which was used yearly by an Indian fleet, and owing to a transpacific route connecting Spanish dominions in Asia with territories of New Spain. The latter route was called Galeón de Manila, Nao de China or Galeón de Acapulco. Twice a year, ships chose it to travel across the Pacific, ensuring communication between Spanish East Indies and American dominions of the crown. Oriental products and objects spread over the area of New Granada. Some of them became furnishing elements of modest missionary churches situated far from big colonial cities. Among the most important objects, one may find silk textiles, but there are also other objects (particularly fabric) of diverse character, whose presence in researched temples is confirmed by archival sources.

Chinese emigration to Mexico and the Sino-Mexico relations before 1910

The emigration of Chinese to Mexico began with the trade of the «Manila galleon» between the Philippines and New Spain (Mexico) during the colonial period of Mexico, increased in great numbers in the late 19th century along with the rapid economic development of Mexico during the Porfirio Diaz regime, and led to the establishment of diplomatic relation between China and Mexico. However at the end of Diaz period, the increasing economic strength of Chinese immigrants, gave rise to the anti-Chinese movement.

México, epicentro semiinformal del comercio hispanoamericano (1680-1740)

El ensayo formula la existencia de un modelo de comercio hispanoamericano que funcionó entre 1680 y 1740 de forma simultánea al régimen oficial. En el espacio novohispano confluyen los dos flujos interoceánicos oficiales más importantes del imperio: el de la flota atlántica que conectaba a España con Veracruz y el eje transpacífico que a partir de las travesías del galeón de Manila unía los puertos de Filipinas y Acapulco. Existe un tercer circuito ilícito que se desprende de México y va hacia el espacio peruano. En el trabajo se muestra cómo gran parte de las importaciones mexicanas de mercaderías ultramarinas se reexportaban hacia Perú por la vía de Acapulco. El trabajo enfatiza la circulación de la plata peruana y se plantea la hipótesis de que esta circulaba con la mexicana por dos nuevos caminos: o se embarca hacia Oriente por la vía del galeón o navega en las flotas españolas del Atlántico rumbo a Cádiz.

Fictions of Return in Filipino America

The presence of Filipinos as corporeal and discursive subjects within both America and Asian America has long been contested. On one hand, the dynamic juridical status of Filipinos in America has ranged from American colonial subjects and American nationals to naturalized and native-born citizens. On the other hand, the presence of Filipinos in America has provided labor in key industries from agriculture to nursing. Filipino America has always been a transnational social formation whose history, economy, and culture reflect the interrelated histories of the Philippines and the United States. This essay explores Filipino American aesthetic practices that engage with the corporeal and discursive production of the “Filipino” in both America and Filipino America. The essay investigates the implications of Filipino American visual art and artists “returning” to the Philippines and argues that a cultural logic of “fictions of return” forms a central part of the production of Filipino America as a transnational sociospatial formation. The first section discusses the production of Filipino America in the context of America's exhibitionary complex. The article proceeds to trace exhibitionary practices in the transnational art project Galleon Trade Arts Exchange. The article then discusses works by Christine Wong Yap, Stephanie Syjuco, Reanne Estrada, and Gina Osterloh to highlight how Filipino American visual art has critically engaged with the multiple contradictions within Filipino and Filipino American experiences. The article ends with a rumination on the relationship between cultural production and desire to return and belong.